I love that the wet shaving market place is loaded with lots of talented artisans. Artisans that produce lovely handles for our razors and brushes. Artisans that produce awesome ceramics for our soaps and lathers. Artisans that produce tremendous leather and wood work for us to display and transport our lovely hardware in. And of course, artisans that produce wonderful soaps that make our daily shaving routine even more enjoyable than it already is with all our other great hardware.
Beer Soap Brewing Company is just the latest of these great artisans that I've had the opportunity to try. So lets get started and get down to the nitty gritty of what we've all come here to learn shall we.
Packaging:
Packaging is simple paper with two labels. One label has the logo with the scent you've chosen; the other contains the ingredient list and various other bits of info. This is an area I think Kevin could improve upon, and from what I understand he plans to offer tins or some other packaging option in the future. This would be good, because a lot of us prefer to use our soaps in a tin provided by the manufacturer as it keeps everything nice and neat, and makes the product ready to lather once you open it up. Come on. Who isn't in the bathroom warming up the water before they've opened up the box huh? I can't be the only one.
Scent:
Scents are hard to describe. We all know that, what with the whole Son of Zeus debate and all, so I won't try and describe every note and what's on top and what comes through underneath and all, because frankly I don't really understand all that. I will say it is complex. And deep, at least to me. If any of that makes any sense to you at all. I did at first think that I was smelling beer, but reading up on what other artisans say, I realized I wasn't smelling beer, but the effect it had on the other oils in the soap. However you want to lay this scent down, it smells damn good, and its a joy to shave with. The scent is strong through the shave, but doesn't hang around to interfere with any of your post shave routine. I do love that Kevin seems to draw inspiration for the scent from the choice of beer, or perhaps it's vice versa. Example being that this Lime & Black Pepper is made with Corona beer. Throw in some screaming teenagers and I'd swear I was laying back in a barbers chair, not getting a cut or shave if you know what I mean...
Lather:
Lather is very simple to describe, and with Kevin's soap its also simple to obtain. The lather is thick and rich with all the excellent properties that we love. Those being glide and cushion and all that good stuff. I'm of the Brian (SharpSpine) Uberlather Fan Club, and love a thick lather that doesn't give up the glide to have a ton of cushion; and Kevin's product does just that. I'll try and post a video of Kevin lathering this stuff up at the end, but in case that doesn't work I'll go ahead and describe what I do here... I start with hot water on top of the soap with my brush soaking in the same temp water. Then when I'm ready to lather up, I shake the brush so that its damp, but not wet and swirl for 60 seconds (I mentioned the uberlather right?). That's what you see in pick one. Lots of proto-lather (lots of air), but there is a ton of it in there. I transfer this to my lather making aparatus (read whatever bowl I'm using that day), and add water as I deem necessary. I'd classify this soap as thirsty, especially since I started with a damp brush already. That's pick two. At the end of about 2 minutes you've created a wonderfully thick lather that has everything you want in a soap. And yep, that's pic 3 buddy. Now we are getting the hang of it...
Post Shave Skin Feel:
I was quite shocked at how soft my skin felt after that first shave; but then they say beer is good for your skin, so maybe I just don't bathe in it enough or something. At any rate, the soap left me feeling soft and refreshed and I barely needed any moisturizer to top off my routine. It it weren't the blasted winter we've been having I probably could have skipped it all together, but then you have the whole dreaded Texas summer sun that bakes you in 10 minutes and makes you look like an old piece of leather if you don't have sun screen so I probably would anyway. But I digress...This soap left me feeling BBS, even if there was that difficult stubble under my jaw.
Get to the point you say:
I rated this soap pretty dang high in just about every category but packaging, and that's only because Kevin sent me scrambling for a container to keep the stuff in. Still there are lots of manufacturers out there that do that, and there are lots of folks that prefer their own packaging. And thanks to Bob, we have yet another container to consider keeping our lovely software in, in those lovely blue jars he's brought to our attention. Still in my opinion this soap deserves all those high marks. It's an absolute joy to shave with and has everything you look for in a shave soap. So I ask you. Why haven't you already clicked the link and bought some? Well? Get on it mister, or did you not read my little blurb...This is a must try for any artisan soap lover. So go...Hurry along now...Here...I'll help... http://beersoapbrewingcompany.com/shaving-soap/
Nitty Gritty (or what everyone really wants to know) Ingredients:
Beer, Saponified Oils of (beef tallow, palm oil, castor oil, Stearic Acid, cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter, glycerin, fragrance, and kaolin clay.) We use Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide.
Fragrance-soap may contain fragrance, essential oils, or both
Palm Oil-provides a stable, creamy lather to soap (we only use organic sustainable Palm Oil)
Olive Oil-provides unparalleled moisturizing and conditioning abilities, in fact Olive Oil moisturizes the skin without clogging the pores (Olive Oil is one of the main ingredients in our soaps)
Coconut Oil-provides incredible lather and in small amounts can provide moisturizing qualities to soap. It also provides a cleansing ability
Shea Butter-provides conditioning and soothing properties to soap
Castor Oil-provides lather and moisturizing properties to soap
The Movie:
Just a humble review from Clinton. Hope ya'll enjoy and please let me know what I did wrong or right.
Beer Soap Brewing Company is just the latest of these great artisans that I've had the opportunity to try. So lets get started and get down to the nitty gritty of what we've all come here to learn shall we.
Packaging:
Packaging is simple paper with two labels. One label has the logo with the scent you've chosen; the other contains the ingredient list and various other bits of info. This is an area I think Kevin could improve upon, and from what I understand he plans to offer tins or some other packaging option in the future. This would be good, because a lot of us prefer to use our soaps in a tin provided by the manufacturer as it keeps everything nice and neat, and makes the product ready to lather once you open it up. Come on. Who isn't in the bathroom warming up the water before they've opened up the box huh? I can't be the only one.
Scent:
Scents are hard to describe. We all know that, what with the whole Son of Zeus debate and all, so I won't try and describe every note and what's on top and what comes through underneath and all, because frankly I don't really understand all that. I will say it is complex. And deep, at least to me. If any of that makes any sense to you at all. I did at first think that I was smelling beer, but reading up on what other artisans say, I realized I wasn't smelling beer, but the effect it had on the other oils in the soap. However you want to lay this scent down, it smells damn good, and its a joy to shave with. The scent is strong through the shave, but doesn't hang around to interfere with any of your post shave routine. I do love that Kevin seems to draw inspiration for the scent from the choice of beer, or perhaps it's vice versa. Example being that this Lime & Black Pepper is made with Corona beer. Throw in some screaming teenagers and I'd swear I was laying back in a barbers chair, not getting a cut or shave if you know what I mean...
Lather:
Lather is very simple to describe, and with Kevin's soap its also simple to obtain. The lather is thick and rich with all the excellent properties that we love. Those being glide and cushion and all that good stuff. I'm of the Brian (SharpSpine) Uberlather Fan Club, and love a thick lather that doesn't give up the glide to have a ton of cushion; and Kevin's product does just that. I'll try and post a video of Kevin lathering this stuff up at the end, but in case that doesn't work I'll go ahead and describe what I do here... I start with hot water on top of the soap with my brush soaking in the same temp water. Then when I'm ready to lather up, I shake the brush so that its damp, but not wet and swirl for 60 seconds (I mentioned the uberlather right?). That's what you see in pick one. Lots of proto-lather (lots of air), but there is a ton of it in there. I transfer this to my lather making aparatus (read whatever bowl I'm using that day), and add water as I deem necessary. I'd classify this soap as thirsty, especially since I started with a damp brush already. That's pick two. At the end of about 2 minutes you've created a wonderfully thick lather that has everything you want in a soap. And yep, that's pic 3 buddy. Now we are getting the hang of it...
Post Shave Skin Feel:
I was quite shocked at how soft my skin felt after that first shave; but then they say beer is good for your skin, so maybe I just don't bathe in it enough or something. At any rate, the soap left me feeling soft and refreshed and I barely needed any moisturizer to top off my routine. It it weren't the blasted winter we've been having I probably could have skipped it all together, but then you have the whole dreaded Texas summer sun that bakes you in 10 minutes and makes you look like an old piece of leather if you don't have sun screen so I probably would anyway. But I digress...This soap left me feeling BBS, even if there was that difficult stubble under my jaw.
Get to the point you say:
I rated this soap pretty dang high in just about every category but packaging, and that's only because Kevin sent me scrambling for a container to keep the stuff in. Still there are lots of manufacturers out there that do that, and there are lots of folks that prefer their own packaging. And thanks to Bob, we have yet another container to consider keeping our lovely software in, in those lovely blue jars he's brought to our attention. Still in my opinion this soap deserves all those high marks. It's an absolute joy to shave with and has everything you look for in a shave soap. So I ask you. Why haven't you already clicked the link and bought some? Well? Get on it mister, or did you not read my little blurb...This is a must try for any artisan soap lover. So go...Hurry along now...Here...I'll help... http://beersoapbrewingcompany.com/shaving-soap/
Nitty Gritty (or what everyone really wants to know) Ingredients:
Beer, Saponified Oils of (beef tallow, palm oil, castor oil, Stearic Acid, cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter, glycerin, fragrance, and kaolin clay.) We use Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide.
Fragrance-soap may contain fragrance, essential oils, or both
Palm Oil-provides a stable, creamy lather to soap (we only use organic sustainable Palm Oil)
Olive Oil-provides unparalleled moisturizing and conditioning abilities, in fact Olive Oil moisturizes the skin without clogging the pores (Olive Oil is one of the main ingredients in our soaps)
Coconut Oil-provides incredible lather and in small amounts can provide moisturizing qualities to soap. It also provides a cleansing ability
Shea Butter-provides conditioning and soothing properties to soap
Castor Oil-provides lather and moisturizing properties to soap
The Movie:
Just a humble review from Clinton. Hope ya'll enjoy and please let me know what I did wrong or right.